Category Archives: Sports - Page 2

A Tale of Two Suits

Posted by on December 30, 2007 No comments

Woke up at a decent hour today to go suit shopping.  Elizabeth was kind enough to lend her opinion and joined my Mom and Me on our adventure to Men’s Warehouse.  Up until today my suit shopping experiences have been limited to paternal hand-me-downs and consignment piecemeal.  It was quite a different experience from the moment we set foot in Men’s Warehouse.

It was a cool December morning.  The way to our destination was hectic and filled with perilous traffic.  Never fearing death, we steadied our hearts and our minds.  It was then that the labyrinth entered our sight.  Not knowing what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised to see no minotaur but rather a normal American store.  Instantly we were asked if we had been helped and when we replied in the negative we were paired with an associate who was more than happy to be our Sherpa on this journey.  He brandished his tape measure in a fearsome manner and collected the necessary measurements.  Without a moments hesitation we were off to the racks to find our would be suit-ors.  Like an Aztec Priest he sacrificed suit after suit to the judging gaze of our trio.  It was apparent that he had done this a few times for the first suit I tried on was one of the two suits to eventually come out of this fray.  The process was draining.  It was a frantic whirlwind of fabric, buttons and criticisms.  Too brown, too grey, too long, too casual, too old, too 70’s and just No.  The few that remained of the rack were lined up.  Some easy cuts were made and eight turned to four.  A simple remark from Elizabeth turned four to three.  It was here that our tribe needed to enter serious deliberation.  It was clear that one suit was going to be purchased this day.  It was the suit I previously mentioned, a navy and silver pin striped three button.  That left us with two suits to decide between.  Now it was time for us to make our way to the land of mirrors.

We arrived and I quickly donned one of the suits to be cast under my personal judging eye.  It immediately felt right and I knew the other suit was going to have a hard time in stealing my heart.  To be fair I quickly changed suit jackets and was surprsied at how much I liked this other jacket as well.  What was a guy to do in this situation?  Ask the Girlfriend and the Mom of course.  Unfortunately the general consensus was that each suit had its pros and cons.  When the concept of flipping a coin came up we now looked at the price.  The first suit was much cheaper and Elizabeth noted how it went really well with my hair and eyes.  It was done.  I had found the two suits that were the prize of this quest.  The first already mentioned, the second being a cream/brown two button European suit.  (The description does not do it justice.)  With decisions in mind and suits in hand it was time to get the measurements for them to be fitted.

Not sterotypical at all, a small Asian women appeared out of no where.  (I would have to say Chinese or Korean, but I’m terrible at that.  I’m sorry.  I later found where she came from.  There is apparently a backroom where they do their tailoring.)  She was very assertive and had a delightful demeanor.  Directing me what to do and how to do it, she utilized her chalk blade to mark the marks that would make me beautiful.  In a very short time she had marked up both jackets, vest, and both pants.  In confused bewilderment I was directed to a table with undershirts and ties placed in two familiar jackets.  It took me a while to notice that these accessories had been place in and around MY jackets.  With their new cohorts in fashion excellence, they were truly stunning.  My mind salivated with the imagery of myself adorned with such finery.  Silently at first but echoing louder and louder the voice of reason began to ring.  While everything looked so wonderful, I realized that all these accessories were meant to destabilize me into purchasing more than the budget had accounted for.  In an effort of compromise we decided upon two ties that looked absolutely stunning; with the idea that more ties could be purchased at a far more reasonable price in the future.

Our associate drew up the designated purchases, collected my information, and handed me the slip of slips that spoke of when I should return to claim my prize.  We were ushered to the cash register where I handed him the preferred method of payment, Visa, and was informed that I had spent enough to earn a “free” gift certificate.  I am now (, in three weeks when it should arrive,) the proud owner of a fifty dollar gift certificate. (Should be good enough for another tie.)  Our Men’s Warehouse adventure drew to a close with our associate shaking all of our hands.  Our trio donned our jackets and steeled ourselves against the frigid grey of winter and in a blink of an eye we were gone.  Never to return again until a couple of weeks from now.

End Scene.

So after Men’s Warehouse my mom had to pick some things up from JC Penny’s.  She had purchased some curtain rods for the cabin and had to exchange an item.  This was Elizabeth’s first time shopping with my Mom.  My Mom is a very assertive person and doesn’t let stores take advantage of her.  It can often result in awkward situations, but I can honestly say that she gets some of the best deals ever.  The point is pretty mute since on this trip there was very minimal resistance and not a whole lot to go wrong.  I picked up some slippers and some “burgundy” shoes to go with my new suits.  Shoes are expensive.

The day didn’t end there.  We barely had time to relax once we returned home and Elizabeth and I were off again to her Aunt’s for a Christmas Party.  It’s not the present crazy type of party but just a laid back time for family to get together and enjoy some wonderful food.  We had the Patriots-Giants game on in the background.  Witnessed the Patriots going undefeated in a season.  (Actually saw this when we got back to Elizabeth’s house.)  I dropped Elizabeth off at her house and stayed for a few hours.  We watched some terrible television and I decided it was time to leave.  We have Gopher hockey tomorrow.  Gophers lost today and will likely lose tomorrow, but being around friends is always fun.  It’s possible that we might even squeeze some hockey in for ourself before we leave downtown to watch the game(s?).

Thank you Mom and Elizabeth for all your help today.  Without the female perspective, today would surely have been a disaster.

What do you want?

Posted by on December 15, 2007 2 comments

Yesterday (yes, I’m posting a little late, but streaks add unnecessary pressure), was indeed a fun night. After doing some laundry I made my way downtown. The traffic had mysterious slow downs along the way, further proving that humans beings don’t deserve the right to drive. After an abnormally long trip, I stopped to pick up some Subway and some more of that wonderful Winter Bourbon Cask Ale. We watched a snippets of a variety of movies while we waited for all parties to arrive. Elizabeth showed up after her work party. The week can get long and it’s not uncommon for me to go without seeing her 4-5 days at a time. After a little pre-party we made our way to Blarney’s. We secured ourselves a place by the fire and proceed to have a good time. The band was a fantastic cover band. They knew a huge variety of songs. I think their name was “4 Degrees”, but I wasn’t in control of all my faculties so I could be wrong. I got a shout out by the band because I was the only one to cheer when they announced that the drummer was going to play the tambourine. That started off the repertoire between the band and our group. It certainly paid off when Greg humorously requested “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.” Fully not expecting it to happen, we were all surprised when the band said they knew that one. They would play it but with one caveat; he had to get up and dance. Greg being his big shy self had no real desire to do that. So I told our waitress Katie to pull his butt up there and make him dance. She was successful in getting him up there but if I remember correctly when she found out what the song was she went away and left poor Greg all by himself. Enough peer pressure and the band already playing, Greg remained up on the stage and danced his usual “Greg” style dancing. (It’s something you must see, it’s glorious.) The brave soldier remained up there and things were looking for the worse when some angel from no where shows up to join Greg on the dance floor. Pretty fun night, Laurence and Chris showed up and brought with them a game I haven’t played since high school. (The one where you make the “OK” symbol below your waist somewhere and if you get someone to look at it you get to punch them in the shoulder. Childish, but all in all pretty funny.) Overall, very fun night; capped off with some Burrito Loco. (Attendance: Myself, Elizabeth, JJ, Chops, Greg, Casey, Laurence, Chris)

Today, I yet again drove downtown, but for a much more healthy reason. With the arrival of winter, comes snow and ice. That means that it’s time for 2 of my most favorite things: skiing and hockey. Today was spent playing hockey and Van Cleve Community Park. We spent most of the time trying to deke each other. After that, JJ put on his Goalie pads (At least the pads that he has accumulated so far. He’s still trying to piece together a full set. A for effort!) We started shooting on him in our little open ice area, using our imaginations to figure where the goal should be. After the sun set we remained on the ice and as the rinks cleared out we finally got JJ in a goal where we shot on him some more. Pretty upsetting that the warming house wasn’t open past 3pm on a Saturday; which also meant that the lights wouldn’t come on. After we were tired enough and no longer able to see it was time to split ways. They have something to attend tonight and I have other things to do. Pretty sore right now, but the hot shower felt good. JJ just notified me that apparently one of my shots broke his cell phone. What his cell phone was doing in his pocket while he was playing goalie, will remain a mystery but that’s sad news none the less. Perfect time to buy a new cell phone I say 🙂

As far as the site goes. You may or may not notice that the new site has now taken over shatteredcube.com and is finally settled into its permanent home. This means that everyone will need to update their RSS feed. You can do this at the bottom of the web page. Click on the RSS link and if you have Firefox add it to your live bookmarks. (I’m ignorant to the workings of IE or other browsers, sorry!)

I forgot to add a list of movies that I want for Christmas as well, but rather than post them I’d like to ask my readership what it is that they want most for Christmas? If you happen to have a different faith, then what would you like for your respective holiday?